Our experience of an historic week

Living afloat we sometimes feel apart from the world, separated from hustling bustling life by our slower, quieter pace. This week we too have watched as history unfolds before us, with the passing of our Queen and accession of King Charles III. We heard the news of the that the Queen was unwell on theContinue reading “Our experience of an historic week”

BEWARE – learning is hard!

As schools and colleges return, and universities prepare for their students, I’ve also been at the sharp end of the learning curve, learning vital lessons. It’s a tough business learning – sometimes we go into it with trepidation, sometimes with huge confidence. We’re here after all at whatever stage we’ve reached, because someone decrees weContinue reading “BEWARE – learning is hard!”

Anniversary effects and decision time

Anniversaries are strange things – personal and public at the same time. They can cheer and depress us, sometimes simultaneously thus not aligning totally with the psychologists’ definition of anniversary effect being solely related to trauma.  We’ve celebrated 33 years of marriage this month – tongue in cheek this maybe traumatic for my Other Half!Continue reading “Anniversary effects and decision time”

Dramatic revolution afloat

Three key lessons this week: Take NOTHING for granted in your life. Be patient – good things are worth waiting for. Technology can be marvellous in many ways! Loyal blog, Instagram or Facebook followers will be familiar with stories of hand washing on towpaths alongside water taps, hunting down laundrettes and lugging bags of washingContinue reading “Dramatic revolution afloat”

Full Monty shows the power of volunteers

This week we’ve been on one of the shortest stretches of canal new to us – the 7 miles of the Montgomery Canal (known as the Monty). This stunning canal which straddles the Anglo Welsh border is beautiful, special (site of special scientific interest SSSI) peaceful (at the moment) and well worth a visit byContinue reading “Full Monty shows the power of volunteers”

Going international

Let’s be honest – travel between nations with a narrowboat in the UK is limited unless you are prepared to pay for trucks to transport your boat! To get to Scotland or Ireland trucking is required, but to reach Wales – you just keep cruising which is what we’ve done this week. We’ve spent theContinue reading “Going international”

Giving up

Scouring the news for glimmers of positivity seems an exhausting process – but we all need these to give us hope, not just about the current situation, but for our own wellbeing. Looking around us and making our contribution to improving the world around us can be one way to help us get through bleakContinue reading “Giving up”

So lar, so very good

Storms, winter chills plus threats from war and sanctions to fuel supplies and costs are challenging individuals and businesses right now. The lessons we’ve learned may help everyone. For us living in our 50ft home/office/workshop staying comfortably warm is something people feel we struggle with. If I had £1 for every time someone says “IsContinue reading “So lar, so very good”

How was it for you?

Were this week’s storms horrendous, stressful, expensive, devastating or over-hyped events for you? Storms are not something floating home owners take lightly. Storm Eunice was of course only the latest storm of this winter. In the past 4 months we’ve floated our way through 6 named storms each affecting our narrowboat home/office/and work in differentContinue reading “How was it for you?”

Work-life collision

Just when we thought we’d got that work-life-balance thing spot on – but we’ve been discovering how confusing it can be when work and life collide. It’s more of a linguistic shunt than a literal crash… so to explain… One side of our business is property letting – bricks and mortar, rather than floating homes.Continue reading “Work-life collision”